NASA Signs Space Act Agreement With ISEE-3 Reboot Project

"NASA has given a green light to a group of citizen scientists attempting to breathe new scientific life into a more than 35-year old agency spacecraft. The agency has signed a Non-Reimbursable Space Act Agreement (NRSAA) with Skycorp, Inc., in Los Gatos, California, allowing the company to attempt to contact, and possibly command and control, NASA's International Sun-Earth Explorer-3 (ISEE-3) spacecraft as part of the company's ISEE-3 Reboot Project. This is the first time NASA has worked such an agreement for use of a spacecraft the agency is no longer using or ever planned to use again. The NRSAA details the technical, safety, legal and proprietary issues that will be addressed before any attempts are made to communicate with or control the 1970's-era spacecraft as it nears the Earth in August."

Asked if the goal was to resume science or just prove that it could be done, Cowing said "it's both." "Why not try it? We told people up front it's iffy, and we've gotten over $150,000 now from people and they knew exactly what the risk was. And, it's cool. The factor that's motivated a lot of people is 'why not?'" As for the potential science, "we're going to do our best to make sure whatever comes back from that spacecraft is on line as fast as we can get it online, that it's open to anyone."

If there was any doubt about whether modern Americans were still enamored with space, the results of their crowdfunding campaign squash it. The group blew through their $100,000 goal, and are currently getting close to a $150,000 stretch goal. There are only two days left to donate--and you should--but the fact that they've raised so much money in so short a time is remarkable.

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NASA Signs Agreement with Citizen Scientists Attempting to Communicate with Old Spacecraft\n\n\"NASA has given a green light to a group of citizen scientists attempting to breathe new scientific life into a more than 35-year old agency spacecraft. The agency has signed a Non-Reimbursable Space Act Agreement (NRSAA) with Skycorp, Inc., in Los Gatos, California, allowing the company to attempt to contact, and possibly command and control, NASA's International Sun-Earth Explorer-3 (ISEE-3) spacecraft as part of the company's ISEE-3 Reboot Project. This is the first time NASA has worked such an agreement for use of a spacecraft the agency is no longer using or ever planned to use again. The NRSAA details the technical, safety, legal and proprietary issues that will be addressed before any attempts are made to communicate with or control the 1970's-era spacecraft as it nears the Earth in August.\"\n\nKeith's note: We have passed our initial \$125,000 goal - and our \$150,000 'stretch' goal. First Contact with ISEE-3 is imminent i.e. hours/days. Please consider helping this project at http://rkthb.co/42228.\n\nCrowd-funded \"citizen scientists\" will try to reboot 1970s NASA satellite, CBS\n\nAsked if the goal was to resume science or just prove that it could be done, Cowing said \"it's both.\" \"Why not try it? We told people up front it's iffy, and we've gotten over \$150,000 now from people and they knew exactly what the risk was. And, it's cool. The factor that's motivated a lot of people is 'why not?'\" As for the potential science, \"we're going to do our best to make sure whatever comes back from that spacecraft is on line as fast as we can get it online, that it's open to anyone.\"\n\nNASA Is Letting Citizens Commandeer a Long-Lost Satellite, Gizmodo\n\nIf there was any doubt about whether modern Americans were still enamored with space, the results of their crowdfunding campaign squash it. The group blew through their \$100,000 goal, and are currently getting close to a \$150,000 stretch goal. There are only two days left to donate--and you should--but the fact that they've raised so much money in so short a time is remarkable.\n\nMore news\n\n- ISEE-3 Reboot Away Team Likes Nice strong carrier from Xpnd B\n- Stronger Signal at Arecibo\n- Our Amplifier Arrived From Germany\n- ISEE-3 Reboot Project In The News

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